Shoe tree



MarCh 21, 1950 v, MINTQN 2,501,285

SHOE TREE Filed Jan. 20, 1947 2 Sheefos-Sheet l I Inventor I Attorney V. H. MINTON March 21, 1950 SHOE TREE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 30, 1947 Patented Mar. 21, 1959 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF'lCE SHOE TREE Vincent Harry Minton, Welwyn Garden City, England ilfilaims. 1

This invention is for improvements in or relating to shoe-trees and has for an object to provide an improved expanding shoe-tree.

Various forms of shoe-tree have been used before, the simplest shoe-tree being a rigid member intended to be inserted into the toe of the shoe and being connected to a heel-piece by means of a springy connection so that the toepiece and heel-piece were thrust apart and the shoe thereby straightened; this form of shoetree, however, has the disadvantage that it tends to straighten the shoe out of its normal shape.

Other forms of shoe-tree have also been proposed in which instead of a rigid toe-piece, there has been provided an expanding toe-piece; in some instances, expansion of the toe-piece has been achieved by forming the toe-piece in two parts and inserting a wedge between the two parts, whilst other constructions have involved the use of a deformable toe-piece, for example a toe-piece of a springy or flexible material which was deformed by being pressed outwardly so as to spread within the shoe. Yet another form of shoe-tree was formed from two members constituting a composite toe-piece, the two members being hingedly connected together towards the forward end of the composite toe-piece and these two members were thrust apart by being pivoted about the hinged connection by utilizing the forward thrust resulting from the forcing of the shoe-tree into the shoe.

In all these prior constructions the effect of the shoe-tree has been to tend to straighten out the shoe so that it is not retained in the form which it assumes on the foot of the wearer.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved shoe-tree which efiects not only a sideways stretching of the forward part of the shoe but also exercises an up-lift on the forward part of the shoe particularly in the neighbourhood of the instep.

According to the invention, therefore, there is provided a shoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece having two members each constituting a side and part of the top-surface of the toe-piece and inter-connected in the vicinity of their forward edges by hinge means adapted to permit relative transverse movement of said members, a yoke member of springy metal having two divergent arms each connected at a point near its end to one of said members at a point disposed rearwardly of said hinge means and means associated with said yoke member adapted to rest on the insole of a shoe to form a fulcrum about which said yoke member pivots to effect a raising and spreading of the toe-piece at the rear thereof, a heel-piece and a toggle connection between said heel-piece and yoke member adapted to effect pivoting of said yoke member; the invention comprises not only the shoe-tree as a whole but also embodies the composite toe-piece and yoke member referred to above.

Preferably the composite toe-piece is formed of two parts hingedly connected together and, where the hinged connection between the two parts is disposed a short distance rearwardly of the front edge of the composite toe-piece, it is a feature of the invention that one or both of said toe-piece members is cut-away on the edge adjacent the other member forwardly of the point of connection of said members to form a V- shaped gap at the front of the composite toepiece.

According to one feature of the invention said divergent arms are formed, in side elevation, as a pair of offset rockable levers, the lowermost points of which constitute said fulcrum; preferably a pad is secured to each arm at the lowermost point thereof to bear upon the insole of a shoe.

An alternative feature of the invention consists in that said yoke member is formed of two arms of springy metal each connected at a point near one end to one of said toe-piece members and at their other ends connected to a pad member constituting said fulcrum.

The yoke member is preferably pivotally connected to the toe-piece member, the connection preferably being in the vicinity of the outermost edges of the said toe-piece member.

Yet a further feature of the invention consists in that the yoke member is formed of flat spring steel.

The toggle connection between the heel-piece and yoke member which constitutes an essential part of the complete shoe-tree can assume various forms, the requirement being that it shall exert a forward thrust upon the yoke member. Thus the toggle connection can consist of two rigid arms vpivotally connected together at one end and connected at their other ends to the yoke member and heel-piece respectively. Alternatively, in the vcase where the yoke member is formed of a pair of offset rockable levers, the toggle connection may be constituted by a rigid member pivotally connected at its ends to the heel-piece and yoke member respectively, the toggle connection being constituted by said rigid member and that portion of the ofiset rockable levers disposed rearwardly of said lowermost points.

An important advantage of the present invention is that the longitudinal extension of the shoe-tree due to the operation of the toggle connection is in part absorbed by the springy yoke member and transformed into movement in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shoe-tree; by this means the undesirable straightening of the sole of the shoe is at least minimized whilst at the same time the tendency of toggle-operated shoe-trees to efiect a narrowing of the shoe at the heel part is likewise substantially minimized.

At the same time the forward movement due to the operation of the toggle connection is, in part, absorbed by the rocking or pivoting of the yoke member about the fulcrum efiecting a raising of that part of the shoe in the neighbourhood of the instep.

The following is a description of two embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a preferred form of construction showing the shoe-tree in the collapsed form in position in a shoe,

Figure 2 is a similar view to that of Figure l but shows the shoe-tree in its extended form;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the shoe-tree of Figures 1 and 2 showing the sideways spread of the composite toe-piece,

Figure 4 is a perspective view similar to that of Figure 3 but taken from beneath the shoetree,

Figure 5 is a plan View of an alternative form of yoke member,

Figure 6 is a side elevation of the alternative yoke member shown in Figure 5,

Figure 7 is a, side elevation of an alternative connection to the heel-piece for use with the yoke member of Figure 5 and Figure 8 is a plan View of the alternative connection to the heel-piece shown in Figure 7.

In the preferred construction illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 it will be seen that there is a toe-piece l of conventional shape formed by two parts 2 and 3 which, when placed side by side, cooperate to form the toe-piece of conventional shape having a slit 4 extending along the longitudinal axis of the toe-piece.

The toe-piece is, for example, about 4% inches long and is at its widest part about 3% inches wide. At a point approximately 1 inch from the extreme tip of the toe-piece there is located a hinge 5 so constructed as to permit relative transverse movement of the parts 2 and 3 and a suitable V gap 6 is formed between the foremost portions of the two parts 2 and 3 of the toe-piece so as to enable the two parts to pivot about the hinge to a sufficient extent, e. g. about 10 to to allow of a sideways stretching action to be imparted to the shoe (diagramatically shown in chain lines at '1) into which the toe-piece l is inserted.

At approximately the lowermost portion of the two parts 2 and 3 of the toe-piece adjacent their rear-most edges 8 two shafts 9 and H] are disposed rigidly connected to the said two parts of the toe-piece. Mounted upon these two shafts is a yoke member having two arms l2 and I3. In the ends of the two arms l2 and it are holes M for co-operating with the said shafts 9 and Iii.

The yoke member H is formed from two pieces of springy steel strip which are about A 4 inch in width and about one thirty-second inch in thickness.

The two arms which, as above indicated are pivotally mounted upon the shafts 9 and I8, are at their rearmost ends 32 connected to a lug member l5 which is so shaped as to form a flat surface for engagement with the insole of the shoe.

Connected to the lug l 5 is a conventional form of toggle connection, generally indicated at 16, comprising two metal bars, having a number of holes 30 disposed half along their length and arranged to be pivotally connected to one another by means of a pin 3| passing through an appropriate pair of holes in the two members. To the other end of the toggle connection there is connected a heel-piece H.

The operation of the shoe-tree can readily be followed from Figures 1, 2 and 3. In Figure l the shoe-tree is seen inserted into the shoe with the composite toe-piece I thrust into the toe portion of the shoe (diagrammatically indicated at T), whilst the heel-piece I! is placed in the rear part of the shoe; at this stage the toggle connection is collapsed so that there is no thrust upon the toe-piece. The toggle connection is next straightened out so that it assumes the position shown in Figure 2; during the straightening out of the toggle connection the composite toe-piece l is thrust forwardly into the toe of the shoe and, when its forward end abuts against the inside of the toe, continuance of the thrust results in a splitting of the yoke member whereby the two parts of the toe-piece are moved away from one another and exercise a sideways thrust upon the side parts of the shoe. Simultaneously, the pad on the lug l5 becomes pressed downwardly upon the insole of the shoe and slides towards the toe, thus effecting a lifting of the rear part of the composite toe-piece I as may be seen from the condition of the composite toepiece illustrated in Figure 3. Figure 3 shows the position assumed by the composite toe-piece when the yoke member is thrust forwardly by hand whilst the front part of the toe-piece is held against movement, the toggle connection not being utilized in this demonstration of the action of the composite toe-piece.

In an alternative construction of shoe-tree, of which parts are illustrated in Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8, the toe-piece is substantially the same as that illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 but in this case the yoke member lid is formed from a springy steel strip 18 about inch in width and about 5 inch in thickness. The yoke member Ha is formed somewhat in the shape of a V save that, instead of a sharp apex, the yoke member is formed with a flattened portion 19 to which is secured a lug 20 formed in such a way as to provide a thumb grip 2|.

The lug 20 at the point where it is attached to the flat portion IQ of the V-shaped yoke member Ila is bent so as to accommodate a piece of rod 22 approximately ,4; inch in diameter. This rod 22 is bent into a U-shape so that the two side arms 2? and 28 extend approximately along the longitudinal axis of the shoe-tree and are bent outwardly at their extreme tips as shown in Fig. 8 for engagement with holes 25 formed in the side extension members 23 of the heel-piece 24. The extension members 23 of the heel-piece 24 are formed with a number of holes 25 enabling the overall length of the shoe-tree to be adjusted to suit different sizes of shoes.

The yoke member Ila is, in side elevation,

'5 formed with the ends '26 of the steel strip 18 upswept so that the two side arms 21 and 2.8 constitute a pair oi-offset rockable levers adapted to engage with the insole of the shoe; pads 29 are secured to the strip 18 to bear upon-the insole but these may be omitted if desired.

The operation of this alternative construction of shoe-tree is as follows:

The two-part toe-piece is inserted into the shoe and pushed towards the extreme end of the toe portion thereof whilst the toggle connection -ior-medbythe yoke member Ila and the U-shaped rod 22 is collapsed so that the heel-piece 24 may be placed in the shoe abutting against the rearmost portion of the heel of the shoe. The thumb grip formed on the'lug 28 attached to the yoke member Ha is then pushed downwardly to expand the toggle connection whereby an axial pressure is exerted on the two-part toe-piece by reason of which the two parts are caused to be pushed transversely apart about the hinge thereby stretching the toe portion of the shoe transversely.

As the toggle connection is pushed still further down, the lowermost surfaces of the side arms 21, 28 of the yoke member Ila engage with the insole of the shoe and, by reason of the upswept ends 25, pivot after the fashion of rocking levers upon the insole and raise the rearmost portion of the toe-piece.

Although in Figures and 6 the yoke member lid is illustrated as being provided with two pads 29, these may be omitted although in such a case it is possible that the edges of the arms 2i and 23 might scratch or otherwise mark the insole; it is therefore preferred to provide these pads 29 on the sides of the arms 21 and 28 although they are not in any way essential to the successful operation of the device.

It will be appreciated that the construction of shoe-tree in accordance with the present invention provides not only for a stretching in a transverse direction of the toe portion and instep of the shoe but also has a lifting action on the instep portion of the shoe. At the same time, by reason of the yoke member being made of springy metal, a portion of the increase in length of the shoe-tree due to the operation of the toggle connection is absorbed by the sideways expansion and by the upward movement of the toe-piece.

It will be appreciated that the'foregoing description of two embodiments of the invention is not limiting as to the scope of the invention and that any convenient modification may be made to the construction described without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A shoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece having two members each constituting a side and part of the top-surface of the toepiece and inter-connected in the vicinity of their forward edges by hinge means adapted to permit relative transverse movement of said members, a yoke member of springy metal having two divergent arms one connected at a point near to its end to one of said members and the other connected at a point near to its end to the other of said members, the connections being at points disposed rearwardly of said hinge means and means associated with said yoke member adapted to rest on the insole of a shoe to form a fulcrum about which said yoke member pivots to eiiect a raising and spreading of the toe-piece at the rear thereof.

d "2. Ashoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece having two members each constituting la side and part of the itop-surface of the toepiece and inter-connected in the vicinity :of their forward edges by hinge means adapted toper- *mit relative transverse movement of said members, a yoke member ofspringy metal having two divergent arms one connected at a point near to its end to one of said members and the other connected at a point near to its end to the other of .said members, the connections being at points disposed rearwardly of said hinge means and means associated with said yoke member adapted to rest on the insole of a shoe to form a fulcrur-n about which said yoke member pivots to effect a raising and spreading of the toe-piece at the rear thereof, a heel-piece and a toggle connection between said heel-piece and yoke member adapted to effect pivoting of said yoke member. I

3. A shoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece formed of two members lying side by side and hingedly connected together in the vicinity of their forward edges, a yoke member having divergent arms formed of flat spring steel each connected at a point near its end to a toe-piece member in the vicinity of the rearward edge thereof, a heel-piece and a toggle connection between said yoke member and said heel piece, said yoke member being provided with means adapted to rest on the insole of a shoe to form a vfulcrum about which said yoke member is pivoted, during straightening of said toggle connection, to efiect a raising and a spreading of the composite toe-piece at the rear thereof.

4. A shoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece having two members each constituting a side and part of the top-surface of the toe-piece and inter-connected in the vicinity of their forward edges by hinge means adapted to permit relative transverse movement of said members, a yoke member of springy metal having two divergent arms one connected at a point near to its end to one of said members and the other connected at a point near to its end to theother of said members, the connections being at points disposed rearwardly of said hinge means said divergent arms being formed in side elevation, as a pair of oiiset'rocka-ble levers adapted to hear at their lowest points upon the insole of a shoe, a heel-piece and a member pivotally connected at one end to said heel piece and at the other end to said yoke member to constitute with said yoke member a toggle joint adapted to rock said divergent arms about fulcra constituted by the said lowest points of said arms.

5. A shoe-tree according to claim 4 wherein each of said divergent arms is provided with a pad arranged for engagement with the insole of a shoe.

6. A shoe-tree according to claim 5 wherein at least one of said toe-piece members is formed with a cut-away part on the edge adjacent the other toe-piece member forwardly of the hinged connection.

'7. A shoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece having two members each constituting a side and part of the top-surface of the toe-piece and inter-connected in the vicinity of their forward edges by hinge means adapted to permit relative transverse movement of said members, a yoke member formed of two arms of springy metal one connected at a point near to its end to one of said members and the other connected at a point near to its end to the other of said members, the connections being at points disposed rearwardly of said hinge means and at their other ends to a pad member adapted to bear upon the insole of a shoe to form a fulcrum about which said yoke memberv pivots to effect a raising and spreading of the toe-piece at the rear thereof, said yoke member being adapted for connection to a heel-piece by means of a toggle connection.

8. A shoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece formed of two members lying side by side and hingedly connected together in the vicinity of their forward edges, a yoke member formed of two arms of springy metal one connected at a point near to its end to one of said members and the other connected at a point near to its end to the other of said members, the connections being at points disposed rearwardly of said hinge means and at their other ends to a pad member adapted to bear upon the insole of a shoe to form a fulcrum about which said yoke member pivots to efiect a raising and spreading of the toe-piece at the rear thereof.

9. A shoe-tree comprising a composite toepiece formed of two parts lying side by side and hingedly connected together in the vicinity of their forward edges, a yoke member formed of two arms of springy metal one connected at a point near to its end to one of said members and the other connected at a point near to its end to the other of said members, the connections being at points disposed rearwardly of said hinge means, the other ends of said divergent arms being connected to a pad member adapted to bear upon the insole of a shoe to form a fulcrum about which said yoke member pivots to effect a raising and spreading of the toe-piece at the rear thereof, a heel-piece and a toggle joint between said heel-piece and said yoke member comprising two rigid rod-like members pivoted together at one end and attached at their other ends to the heel-piece and a yoke member respectively.

VINCENT HARRY MIN'I'ON.

No references cited. 

